We had visited with the governor and presented to him our plans for a Canadian Food Grains Bank project to grow grains and vegetables with 600 poor families in his Province. He was delighted and asked that we meet together for lunch with the Member of Parliament for Bayanhongor Aimag (province). We had two hours to kill before lunch, so I said to my three staff that I would love to use this time to visit my friends. I invited them to go with me. They thought it might be some more "VIPs".

We drove to the outskirts of town to the little white flat-roofed old-age home I had visited several times before. It has to be one of the most depressing places I have ever visited in my life. One old man was sitting on the steps in the sun with a piece of black plastic chord tied around his shaven head causing veins to bulge on his head. I later found he suffers from terrible headaches probably caused by high blood pressure.

I walked down the cold passage with the staff to visit the 4 bleak rooms housing the 8 inmates. They are all homeless old folks who have no family support so the government has placed them in this home to live out their last days. One old lady was bedridden with major bladder and urinary tract infection. The beds had a minimum of blankets on and the old folks were rather grubby looking. Many had obviously worn the same clothes for weeks with no washing. I greeted each with a handshake. Some recognized me or remembered ADRA. We had taken away the four little kids who were housed in this home previously and had put them into a home run by an expatriate organization in Ulaanbaatar. Once I had assessed the current needs, I knew what to do.

We drove down to the market and spent the next one and a half hours purchasing underwear, socks, clothing, blankets, toiletries and clothing. For the 3 ladies we purchased materials for new dels (Mongolian traditional dress) and arranged for them to be made up. One little old man, though deaf and dumb, did the maintenance of the building. He was in need of boots. We also purchased fruit, flour, rice and millet to vary the diets of the old folks, and washing soap powder and bars of laundry soap for washing clothing. One of my staff decided to brighten up each room with a little ornament for each person. What a moving experience it was to see the excitement as each one received his parcel from us. The little old lady kissed the little porcelain cat Jonathan bought her and showed childlike excitement. I saw tears well up in the eyes of my staff. I now know that these little old folks have 3 more friends among the ADRA staff who will visit them to bring joy every time they visit Bayanhongor.

"Listen, dear friends. Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges." James 2 (The Message)

Llewellyn Juby May, 2005